We Bought a House

By Christopher Miller

Look out world, here I come!

You know you’ve reached adulthood when receiving tools for finishing vital home projects is enjoyable and very much appreciated.

Earlier in October I borrowed a battery-operated nail gun from a very good friend in Westport. This thing was very powerful and afforded me the opportunity to finish some work on my custom-made bathroom vanity cabinet.

Within less than a second of pulling the trigger the nail is securely held in the wood plank. What originally took me maybe 5 seconds to drive 1 nail into, I could drive at least 5 nails within the same time.

Oh the power!

But “with great power comes great responsibility”…and boy am I having trouble with finishing trim right now.

I now like to say that the bathroom remodel was my first go-around with renovations. Why, you may ask? Because there were spots I forgot to sand the joint compound down, the corners are not entirely square, and I forgot to secure a base plate on the floor between the studs. (Thankfully this was a short wall for reframing.)

Almost all of this is evident when installing the trim which is like the icing on a cake for any room to be called “complete.”

Let me explain. I have been struggling with accurately measuring, cutting, and attaching the crown molding around the ceiling. There are some tricks I have learned through YouTube videos such as using a coping saw to cut the edges out on the ends of pieces to slide it into the grooves of the molding.

I also learned to take a square to quickly determine if a corner is indeed square or a little off, either greater-than or less-than 90 degrees. In these cases, YouTube-ers have basically said “eh, just guess” what the angle could be if it is greater-than or less-than 90, then jam it full of wood filler or caulking.

YouTube isn’t the most reliable place for information, but there is some truth to what they have shown me.

Example – I had a terrible time accurately measuring the angle of a corner so I did the “guess and check” method; setting one mitered cut at 46 degrees and the other at 44 degrees – by George, it worked! Though I know my luck wouldn’t hold out for too long.

What seems to be the most trouble for me at the moment is hanging the crown molding. You see – I love and adore my wife. She is truly my other half (I need to butter her up – Valentine’s Day and her birthday is coming up). I want this bathroom to be an oasis for her; a place where she can come to relax and soak away the stress and frustrations of a day.

The crown molding will look nice when I finish hanging it. It will add an elegant look to the bathroom while also showing off where the drywall wasn’t exactly square with the corners, or where the floor dipped 1/8″ of an inch.

Ah well, the learning curve is tremendous!